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Players in- 3 for $1K. Players out 6 for $60K (all 60K was for the one player) + $4K at the end of the season for a sell on clause on the same player. Also a key loan in (AM/F) made a huge difference, and he signed a permanent deal at the end of the season.
Flippin’ ‘eck. I made brief mention in my last update of European ambitions. Well they came a bit quicker than I had imagined possible. Not wishing to enter into the CSA debate, this was a season where I had decided to make a stab at a cup run as I had not gone further than the 5th round before with PSNI. This was not too big a problem as in Northern Ireland you can have a decent cup run and still rarely play twice a week. So the Irish Cup it was, and we achieved the unlikely. After 2 drawn matches with Prem side Larne (previous cup winners) in the 5th round, we held on to win the shootout. That was the ‘make or break’ game, and a few rounds later we went through to the final against Crusaders from the Prem. Both teams seemed to be playing cautiously and 120 minutes produced nary a chance, let alone a goal. Heroics from our keeper saw us go through 2-1 on pens, and into the UEFA Cup, much to the dismay of all concerned. :eek: :eek:
The league- sitting near the top after 4 games with 3 wins, it took us until the last match day to secure our fourth victory (we did have good number of draws thankfully) which guaranteed our survival in Div1. A 7 month lay off for one of our 3 strikers saw us struggle up front through the season, with one of them occasionally saying he wanted to move. (He thought a warning for violent behaviour was ‘harsh’, after he had been sent off for punching an opposition player in the face ). However, survival in Div 1 was always the goal for this season, so I was happy enough.
With the money from the gate, a big transfer sale at the start of the season, and our prize money, this was the first season that PSNI showed a profit, and the board responded with a whopping $12K transfer budget next season- the first time they have given a budget. However, I am still limited to $300 Au per week for key players, and that’s only if the board REALLY like the player.
NI Div 1 Pos 10th W4 D10 L8 Pts22
Irish Cup Winners (on pens v Crusaders)
Steel and Sons Cup- 4th round
Intermediate League Cup- semi-finals
Perhaps unsurprisingly, but nonetheless disappointingly, our European adventure is short lived, suffering 0-1 defeats both home and then away to FK Leotar Trebinje of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first Qualifying round of the UEFA cup. It was, in the end, little more than a pre-season trip for the lads after their efforts.
However there are further, unanticipated consequences from our Irish Cup triumph last season. I receive a notice early in the year that PSNI have been invited to play in the All-Irish cup, and for our participation the club will be receiving $250K :eek: . The games do not start until October, so our progress will be reported in next seasons update. But for $250K, who care about the results?
Not a great deal of transfer action, despite having a $12k transfer budget, there were no wages to attract anyone decent. We sat in what appeared to be mid-table comfort for most of the season, but once again crashed badly towards the end, and had to rely on other results to stay up after losing our last match of the season. Although it’s been close before, this was getting stupidly close to relegation. However, we did survive and given that the bookies had us at 50-1 and favourites to go down, at the end of the day the board is pleased to still be in Div 1.
No emulation of our inexplicable Irish Cup success, this time going out in the quarter finals to Prem side Distillery. Other cups sucked @rse.
EURO Cup- 1st Q.R. 0-2 on agg. to Leotar
N.I. Div 1- Pos10th W6 D5 L11 Pts23
Irish Cup- Quarter finals
Steel and Sons Cup- 4th round
Intermediate League Cup- group stage
This season it got very hard to keep turning down offers from clubs with transfer budgets in the millions, especially when Aberystwyth from Wales came knocking flaunting a transfer fund of $11M and further European football. But I know too much now about the inner workings of the Northern Ireland police service, and the cops won’t let me leave.
This is really becoming a test of persistence, patience and all those kinds of things. I actually felt overcome with success because we secured our non-relegation on the second last, and not the last, match of the season. A good indication of the clubs ambition was when I released a media statement praising a defender. At the time we were 12th (that’s in a 12 team league), and the statement said we were in a decent league position. It’s an easily pleased board.
We actually had a $15k transfer budget, largely thanks to the All-Irish Cup $250K pay day. I signed a new keeper for $5k, and a creative forward for $10k, easily a club record. As I might have anticipated, he was underwhelming. The goalie got good ratings but seemed to let in easy goals too often. My main goal scorer, Set Piece Genius, seems to have lost his spark and my Young Striker of the legendary 9 goal season a couple of years back hasn’t recaptured that kind of form either. On top of which my defence is not the solid foundation it once was, since selling that defender for $60k a few years back.
I almost forgot, the All-Irish Cup itself. We got drawn in a group with Bohemians and Cork City. Played 4 games, lost 4 games. We got on telly 4 times. Did I mention we got paid $250K for it? :cool:
Northern Ireland Div 1- Pos 10th W6 D6 L10 Pts24 (scoring only 14 goals, the equal lowest in the clubs history)
Irish Cup- 4th Round
Steel and Sons Cup- 3rd round
Intermediate League Cup- group stage
All-Irish Cup – 4 games, not a point.
Season 2015/16 N.I. Div 1 PSNI, and Conference South- Dover Athletic.
A dismal season for PSNI, and after much agonising I resigned, relegation to Div 2 assured with 3 games remaining. Cups sucked @rse. It was hard to leave, especially as I could have stayed on and tried to bring them back up, but after taking the club to a glimpse of European football I had to admit there was nothing else I could do there, and parted with the board and the fans on good terms.
I took over Dover Athletic, in the relegation zone with 6 games to play, hoping to work a minor miracle. Too many late goals conceded saw that hope dashed as I took another team to oblivion. As they were relegated out of playability, I resigned at the end of the season to look for a new job over summer.
After struggling away on a shoestring for so many seasons with PSNI, this presented a completely different challenge. Lincoln have managed to slide all the way down the divisions to the Northern Conference, and with job vacant, I applied and accepted the ensuing offer. $475K to spend and a weekly wage budget of around $40k per week seemed like limitless millions, although results were expected- the board wanting nothing less than the title.
We took a few too many games before things clicked which left us too far behind to catch the leaders. I signed Young Striker from PSNI and he got off to a great start, scoring 15 goals in 17 starts, before he broke his pelvis :eek: and missed the rest of the season. That was a huge blow as the other strikers couldn’t score consistently. We made the play-offs, and after a thrilling 4-3 agg victory over Rochdale, we just couldn’t find the back of the net and lost 0-1 to Nuneaton. I fully expected to be sacked, but it seems that the board were pleased enough to keep me on for another season.
Nth Conference- 4th W19 D15 L8 Pts72
FA Cup 3rd Round 3-7 :eek: defeat v West Ham
FA Trophy saw the youth and reserves get to the 3rd round.
PSNI secured promotion back to Div 1 in NI.\o/
Gainsborough just got relegated back to Conf North, so I will look forward to getting all 6 points from them next season. (For some reason I still want PSNI to do well but hope Gainsborough do poorly).
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